Opinion: Enes Kanter Freedom Asks Why the WNBA Can Say Who Is a Man but Not Who Is a Woman
The former NBA player says the commissioner's letter to Congress calls him ineligible without setting any standard, and that he was kept out of his courtside seats at Game 3 of the Finals. He is writing as a party to the dispute.
Enes Kanter Freedom argues in a Fox News column that the WNBA has answered a question about him and dodged the one that matters.
His argument. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana in a letter that "only women are eligible to play in the WNBA and the individuals you cite in your letter are both men." Kanter Freedom, a former NBA player, says that names him ineligible without defining who qualifies. "Notice what she did not say," he writes: that biological males are categorically barred, or what standard the league uses. He asks who gave her authority to decide his identity and says the league "can so confidently identify a man" yet cannot say who is a woman. He says a league task force has produced no public policy.
The seats. He says he bought premium courtside tickets for Game 3 of the Finals in Atlanta on Wednesday, was told he had to watch from a private suite with a private entrance for his safety, refused, and was escorted out by security. It was the second time, he says, that he was kept from a WNBA game while speaking up for women. "I am certainly not going to hide in a luxury suite because my presence makes someone uncomfortable," he writes.
The anthem. He also criticizes players from the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream who have run off the court before the national anthem and returned afterward. He says Americans are free to protest but that the freedoms behind their careers deserve respect.
His ask. He wants the league to state plainly whether all biological males are ineligible, and to name the standard that disqualifies him.
Note for readers: this is an opinion column by a person directly involved. The account of the seating and the claim that the league has no public policy are his, and the column includes no response from the WNBA or the arena. We did not see Engelbert's letter and are relying on his quotation of it. We covered the earlier anthem controversy and his Finals incident.